This invention relates to variable speed conveying apparatus. In one form the invention is concerned with conveying rod-like articles, particularly articles of the tobacco industry such as cigarettes.
Cigarette packing machines generally assemble cigarettes in groups prior to forming a packet around each group. The groups of cigarettes usually comprise two or three rows of cigarettes. Cigarettes are commonly transferred to the packing machine in a multi-layer stream, often having a depth corresponding to ten cigarettes or more. Conventional cigarette packing machine hoppers are capable of receiving such a stream and providing an output of one or more rows of cigarettes or forming a group suitable for packing. Such hoppers operate intermittently, however, and can be a source of damage and/or is degradation to cigarettes. British patent specification No. 2175268A discloses one form of apparatus for continuously converting a multi-layer stream of cigarettes into a single row stream from which groups for use in a packing machine may be obtained: this apparatus may also be damaging to cigarettes, however, because the stream tends to be squeezed between narrowing side walls.